Despite not being in his best physical condition, Jett Lawrence showcased his resilience by winning both motos at the High Point Raceway National in Mt. Morris, Pennsylvania, on June 15. This race marked round four of the 2024 AMA Pro Motocross Championship, and Lawrence, despite his previous hard crash in round two at Hangtown, which left him with moderate injuries, is steadily climbing back up the leaderboard.
Lawrence came into High Point dealing with the worst of his injuries: a sore shoulder. However, the defending champ did just enough to win both motos, his older brother, Hunter, and Chase Sexton, not making life easy on Jett, nor the insanely rutted High Point track, which received plenty of rain the evening before the National. Good weather prevailed on Saturday, but the racers faced an extremely difficult track to navigate with all the deep ruts and spotty slick conditions as the track dried out.
Hunter was the early moto-one leader, but a small tip-over allowed Jett by. For the remaining 12 laps, Jett led Hunter to the checkered flag but could never let his guard down. Despite the shoulder robbing him of strength, he managed to hang on and took the checkers less than a second ahead of his brother, making it a Honda HRC 1-2.
Sexton finished third but never got a chance to mix it up with the two Lawrences after starting in sixth and having a few minor setbacks along the way. Sexton crossed the finish line 37 seconds behind the two Hondas.
Justin Cooper was fourth in the moto, 45 seconds back and just two seconds ahead of Aaron Plessinger.
Moto two saw three different leaders. The first was Kawasaki’s Jason Anderson, who led the first four laps (after passing hoeshotter Phil Nicoletti) ahead of Jett, Sexton, and Hunter. Jett and Sexton got around Anderson in near succession on lap five. Jett led for another four laps when Sexton moved into the lead; however, three laps later, Sexton went down, handing the lead back to Jett. Another bobble by Sexton allowed Jett to get away and Hunter, in third, to close the gap on number four KTM.
Jett led the remaining five laps to take back-to-back wins.
Sexton was three seconds behind in the second, with Hunter another three seconds back in third. Sexton had the quickest lap time in both motos, but it wasn’t enough to get the win. However, he grabbed second overall and matched moto results to keep pace with points leader Hunter.
Anderson was fourth in the moto and Plessinger fifth.
Hunter will again wear the red plate at the next race (in two weeks) at Southwick. He’s six points ahead of Sexton, and Jett is now just two points behind the KTM rider, Sexton, in third.
Cooper, who went 4-6 on the day, is fourth in points, 20 behind Jett. Plessinger is fifth, nine points behind Cooper.
The 250MX had plenty of great, nail-biting racing, and Ty Masterpool was the big winner when it was all over. It was Masterpool’s first career victory and the 300th for his Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki Team, led by the team’s founder Mitch Payton, who acquired Masterpool just a day before the start of the outdoor Championship four weeks ago. It was an emotional day for Payton and Masterpool, who lost his brother/racer, Jesse, while racing at Lake Whitney 14 years ago and has had many ups and downs with his racing career the past few years.
Masterpool chased Honda’s Chase Hymas for the lead for the first six laps before taking the lead. The Kawasaki rider set sail and could taste his first career moto win before Haiden Deegan got around him two laps from the finish.
Deegan went down on the first lap and held down 14th, heading into lap two. From there, he steadily worked his way up through the pack before taking the impressive win, gaining big points on championship rival Tom Vialle, who finished eighth after starting sixth. Jo Shimoda was third, followed by Hymas and Ryder DiFrancesco.
Race two was filled with drama, starting with Club MX’s Mark Fineis taking the holeshot and leading for two full laps. He then put up a fight when Vialle and Masterpool came calling. Fineis actually got the lead back for a lap before eventually falling and damaging his bike’s radiator, which eventually forced him out of the race on lap seven.
Hymas took the lead, but Masterpool was right on him for several laps. When Hymas bobbled and nearly fell, Masterpool rode around him and into the lead.
However, on the move was first-moto winner Deegan, who went down on the first lap and was 18th at one point. Could he come back for the win again? Deegan was in third place when he saw the white flag but got around Hymas and still had to pass Masterpool for the overall win. Deegan dropped the hammer those last two laps and came within 0.387 of Masterpool at the finish line for what was a thrilling finish.
Masterpool’s 2-1 beat Deegan’s 1-2 for the overall win, while Hymas went 4-3 for third overall.
Deegan congratulated Masterpool for his first career moto and overall win and was pleased with his large points haul over Vialle, who was fourth in the moto (fifth overall).
Deegan now enjoys a comfortable 32-point lead over Hymas in the 250MX class. Vialle slips to third, six points behind Hymas.
Shimoda was fourth overall on the day with a 3-5. CN
Kit Palmer
450MX OVERALL (Top 10)
| 1. | Jett Lawrence | (Honda) | 1-1 |
| 2. | Chase Sexton | (KTM) | 3-2 |
| 3. | Hunter Lawrence | (Honda) | 2-3 |
| 4. | Aaron Plessinger | (KTM) | 5-5 |
| 5. | Justin Cooper | (Yamaha) | 4-6 |
| 6. | Jason Anderson | (Kawasaki) | 7-4 |
| 7. | Dylan Ferrandis | (Honda) | 6-7 |
| 8. | Justin Barcia | (GasGas) | 10-8 |
| 9. | Malcolm Stewart | (Husqvarna) | 9-9 |
| 10. | Shane McElrath | (Suzuki) | 8-9 |
250MX OVERALL (Top 10)
| 1. | Ty Masterpool | (Kawasaki) | 2-1 |
| 2. | Haiden Deegan | (Yamaha) | 1-2 |
| 3. | Chance Hymas | (Honda) | 4-3 |
| 4. | Jo Shimoda | (Honda) | 3-5 |
| 5. | Tom Vialle | (KTM) | 8-4 |
| 6. | Julien Beaumer | (KTM) | 6-8 |
| 7. | Ryder DiFrancesco | (GasGas) | 5-13 |
| 8. | Pierce Brown | (GasGas) | 13-6 |
| 9. | Levi Kitchen | (Kawasaki) | 10-9 |
| 10. | Jordon Smith | (Yamaha) | 9-10 |
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